EPHESIANS - Chapter 1 - Verse 15

Verse 15. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the LordJesus. This is one of the passages usually relied on by those who
suppose that this epistle was not written to the Ephesians. The argument
is, that he writes to them as if they were strangers to him, and
that it is not language such as would be used in addressing a people
among whom he had spent three years. See the Intro. § 5. But
this inference is not conclusive. Paul had been some years absent
from Ephesus when this epistle was written. In the difficult
communication in those times between distant places, it is not to be
supposed that he would hear often from them. Perhaps he had
heard nothing after the time when he bade farewell to the elders
of Ephesus at Miletus, (Ac 20,) until the time here referred to.
It would be, therefore, a matter of great interest with him to hear
from them; and when, in some way, intelligence was brought to
him at Rome of a very gratifying character about their growth in
piety, he says that his anxiety was relieved, and that he did not
cease to give thanks for what he had heard, and to commend them
to God in prayer.